“Save Me” (구해줘)

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
September 1, 2020

Han Sang-Hwan (played by Ok Taec-yeon)
Im Sang-Mi (played by Seo Ye-Ji)
Suk Dong-Cheol (played by Woo Do-Hwan)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

“Save Me” tells the tale of a family that is desperate to start a new life. After the father’s business goes under, he moves his family away from Seoul to the rural town of Mujigun, where they are quickly befriended by a group of churchgoers who seem friendly enough.

In reality, they are members of a cult who don’t seem to understand what a cult actually is. They view regular beatings and ripping out of organs to cure members from  Satan’s diseases (i.e. cancer) as penance for being sinners. As for the sexual abuse of girls and young women, they refuse to believe it happens — even when their own children have been the victims.

Jo Sung-Ha does a formidable job portraying the leader of the cult, who resembles a smarmy Colonel Sanders more than the diety he claims to be. It’s clearly lust at first sight when he sees Sang-Mi, the aforementioned family’s teenage daughter. While her family is praying, he fondles her thigh. The fear and shock in her eyes say everything. She knows what’s going on, but doesn’t know how to address it. She tells her parents she’s uncomfortable with him and the church. But they dismiss her concerns and say he’s a good man and they’re lucky to have found him.

Sang-Mi doesn’t tell them what he did to her, which is unfortunate, because I think at this early stage of their indoctrination, they would’ve believed her. But then again, I didn’t find her silence to be questionable, either. A young girl of 15 or 16 would’ve been confused and possibly ashamed of what he did to her. And the perpetrator would’ve created some kind of excuse to gaslight her into thinking she was mistaken.

Unfortunately, things aren’t much better at school. The governor’s son, Sang-Hwan, is a popular student who has a crush on her. But she has no interest in kindling any friendships. Her priority is to study and protect her disabled twin brother, Sang-Jin.

High school crush aside, this series isn’t about romance or Second Lead Syndrome. It’s about unwavering friendship and doing the right thing, which sometimes means going against your own flesh and blood to stand up for what’s right. There is no adult in this K-Drama who has a moral compass. It’s the kids who figure things out by trial and error.

Ok Taec-yeon is the male lead in “Save Me.” But Woo Do-Hwan has the meatier role, portraying a student from the wrong side of the tracks who — unlike his friends — doesn’t have the connections to protect him when he falters.

As the female lead, Seo Ye-Ji shows off her powerful ability to express emotions with no dialogue. She does a formidable job portraying a teenager who refuses to succumb to evil.

Watching “Save Me” is like riding a wooden rollercoaster where your body is jerked from one rickety turn to the next. You never know what’s going to happen next…and that anxiousness is what you keeps watching.

Airdates: Sixteen hour-long episodes aired from August 5 through September 24, 2017 on OCN.

Spoiler Alert: 

Unable to take any more of the bullying, Sang-Jin jumps from their school building and dies. Ridden with grief at the death of her son, their mother goes into a deep depression. Taken in by the cult’s hospital, they drug her until she slowly loses her mind. Why did they do this? As bait to keep Sang-Mi in the cult. As long as they control her mother, Sang-Mi won’t wander too far from them.

There are so many secret meetings in the cult. I didn’t understand why there weren’t more surveillance cameras on the property and in the members’ rooms.

By the finale, Sang-Mi has escaped the cult with her mother, who is lucid and clear-headed again. The last shot of her father shows him in full-fledged brainwashed mode, standing on a corner preaching about doomsday. Sang-Hwan is heading off to serve his mandatory military duty. His friends, including Sang-Mi, show up to send him off.

Honestly, I loved that this series didn’t try to force a romance on this young couple. That would’ve diluted the storyline.

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